US sends thousands of Marines and three warships to Middle East – WSJ

TradingKey - The S&P 500 index has recently experienced volatility at high levels. As of the U.S. market close on July 16, the S&P 500 index stood at 7,533.77 points, falling 0.51% on the day. Despite the short-term pullback, technical indicators suggest the medium-to-long-term bullish trend remains intact, and institutions continue to hold a positive outlook for the future of the S&P 500.

TradingKey - Against the backdrop of a general pullback in the AI sector, Apple (AAPL) has staged an independent rally, driven by its unique ecosystem moat and robust financial performance. After reaching an all-time high of $323.45 on July 13, the share price hit another record high of $327.5 on July 15. Its market capitalization currently stands at $4.81 trillion, making it the second-largest company in the U.S. by market value as it approaches the epic $5 trillion milestone, trailing only Nvidia (NVDA) at $5.13 trillion. In fact, Apple's year-to-date gain in 2026 has reached 16%, also leading the "Mag 7."

Tradingkey - The Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX (SPCX) is in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Defense to sell computing power. The deal could be valued at billions of dollars, and if finalized, would mark the latest major infrastructure contract for Elon Musk’s integrated rocket, satellite, and artificial intelligence conglomerate. The report noted that the partnership model for this deal is similar to previous agreements SpaceX reached with Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) and AI firm Anthropic. The negotiations come as the U.S. military seeks to construct data centers within its military bases to bolster its autonomous computing capabilities.

TradingKey - Meta Platforms (META) has made substantial progress in the commercialization of its cloud computing infrastructure. According to media reports, Meta is in early-stage talks with leading AI company Anthropic to lease computing resources from its proprietary data centers, a two-year partnership that could be worth up to $10 billion. If finalized, the deal would represent a landmark transaction, marking Meta's transition from using its computing assets solely for internal operations to external commercialization. Driven by the news, Meta's stock price recovered significantly, narrowing from an early-session decline of over 5% to less than 2%. As of press time, shares were down 2.06% at $650.82.

Tradingkey - On July 17 (ET), as the conflict between the U.S. and Iran continued to escalate, the two major crude oil futures rose again, returning to price levels seen in mid-June. As of press time, WTI crude futures rose over 3% to $81.05, while Brent crude futures also gained more than 3% to $87.01. The confrontation between the two sides has intensified as the fragile ceasefire agreement signed by the U.S. and Iran last month shows further signs of breaking down.